With $27.6 million haul, Beto O'Rourke sets a new fundraising record in Texas politics

[TexasTowelie]

Source: Texas Tribune

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke raised a staggering $27.6 million from late February through June, outraising Republican incumbent Greg Abbott and setting a new record for campaign fundraising in Texas.

O'Rourke's campaign announced the haul Friday morning, and Abbott's followed with the announcement that he raised $24.9 million over the same period. O'Rourke's $27.6 million is the most a candidate for state office in Texas has ever raised in a reporting period.

Still, Abbott maintains a decisive advantage in cash on hand. His campaign said it had $45.7 million cash on hand as of June 30. O'Rourke's campaign did not release that figure, but it had $6.8 million in the bank as of mid-February.

The candidates are set to formally disclose their latest campaign finances on a report due later Friday to the Texas Ethics Commission. It will cover Feb. 20 through June 30.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/15/texas-governor-2022-abbott-orourke-fundraising-record/

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Article written by Patrick Svitek.

Donate here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/du4beto

[grumpyduck]

1. It would appear that

many people in TX are fed up that that... thing.

[efhmc]

2. Meanwhile I see no advertisements but get asked to donate almost daily.

Some large billboard in major cities? Granted the closest city of any size to me is Austin. Previously around this small town, no one would sell space for Dem ads. So we gave up trying.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

16. Haven't seen any ads either in Central TX. I was SO

Disappointed to see he was 5 pts behind Gov Dipshit. At one pt he was closer to cruz than that.

Gonna take some brilliant strategy to crack the TX GOP FB smear advantage.

But fingers crossed and hoping Beto opens an office here like he did last time

[Slammer]

20. Beto

There was a hell of a lot more enthusiastic support for Beto himself in his Senate run than there is for his governor run this time around.

In my opinion, he's riding a wave of pro-choice donations which aren't anything of his doing and are just a reaction to what the Republicans have been doing.

I mean, that's nice if he can do something to capitalize on it. But I'm not seeing him building a wave based on being against bounty hunters, being pro-choice in a state that's unfortunately very split on the issue, and wanting to confiscate guns "in certain circumstances" in Texas.

I think Beto would be doing much better if he cast himself into a competent professional "Lloyd Bentson" type of Texas politician and contrast himself to the bat-crap crazy that is Gov. Abbott and the Texas Republican party.

It doesn't really matter if Beto actually governed as that kind of politician or not, that's what the voters are wanting to hear at this point in time, in my opinion. And also in my opinion, they'd forgive him if he didn't govern that way.

But Beto has deliberately chosen to cast himself into the "look at me, I'm on the outer fringe of the Texas Democrat party: like me or not!"

Having the voters pick between which fringe of which party they want in office is terrible election politics.

If Beto had cast himself as a mainstream competent professional, he could make a lot of mileage out of "Seriously, my opponent signed into law a bill to send bounty hunters after little girls who've been raped. Is that the kind of nutbar that we want running the state?"

...and not have his opponent come back with "Oh, yeah? But he's literally campaigning on confiscating your guns. Not simply registering or background checks or other things which people of good conscience could discuss then accept or reject. But the word 'confiscate' has literally come out of his mouth!"

[Laura PourMeADrink]

21. You are incredibly spot on! ( Which equates to what I think too:) )

Beto was very different early on. Heard him speak at a dinner when he first started campaigning against cruz. He talked a lot about visiting different places in Texas and about how his approach was to be non-combative and non condescending but to appeal to constituents pride in Texas.

In my experience I have met many many more people who are apolitical and all they know about Beto is that he wants to take away guns. Forget those people for sure. But I wonder about the constituency of college educated Republicans who are more socially liberal. I wonder how many there are? All I know is that my republican-in-laws were completely outraged with the SC Roe decision and said they would vote for Beto. Must be a small group? But would be good to plan strategy specifically to appeal to them?

[SmittyWerben]

3. I donated what I could afford

Texas repugs would vote for their own executions as long as it was being done by a republican.

[peppertree]

4. Would it that dark money didn't figure in the equation

Repugs, of course, get 90% of it - from Putin, money laundries, narcos, you name it.

[Omaha Steve]

5. Don't forget we have a DU link to donate

Donate here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/du4beto

[TexasTowelie]

6. Thanks.

I started to look for the link, but wanted to get the article posted. I'll edit the OP.

[dalton99a]

7. "The average donation was $54."

[a kennedy]

12. OMGOSH, what a perfect window display. 👏 👏 👏

[Lasher]

8. Abbott is up by 6 in the polls.

I don't think he will be able to maintain that lead.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2022/governor/tx/texas-governor-abbott-vs-orourke-7376.html

[TexasTowelie]

10. A poll was released by the University of Houston a couple days ago and Abbott's lead was at 5%.

A couple more pieces of bad news for Abbott and a strong debate performance by Beto might be enough to tip the election in our favor. Considering that the last time I had a Democrat represent me in any local or state office was when Elliott Naishtat was my state representative when I lived in Austin prior to 2000, I would really love to celebrate a win.

[Polybius]

19. If Beto runs to the right a little, he can win

So far he has resisted. He needs to understand that while Texas isn't Bright Red, it is still pretty Red nonetheless.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. Beto O'Rourke raises almost $30M in four months in race against Gov. Greg Abbott

WTG Beto

Link to tweet

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Beto-O-Rourke-raises-almost-30M-in-four-months-17307256.php?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=referral

Democrat Beto O’Rourke’s campaign announced that they have raised almost $30 million for their campaign against Gov. Greg Abbott since Feb. 20 and are up to almost $41 million since he got into the race in November.

While that’s a massive haul for a Democrat running for governor in Texas, it still falls short of Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, who reported raising more than $24.9 million since Feb. 20 and now has raised $70 million since the start of 2021 for his re-election.

O’Rourke’s campaign emphasized that since February they have received $27.6 million from more than 511,000 contributions, averaging $54 per donation — a sign they say of how their campaign is being supported by small-dollar donors and not big money interests.

“We’re receiving support from people in every part of Texas who want to work together to ensure our state moves beyond Greg Abbott’s extremism and finally leads in great jobs, world class schools, the ability to see a doctor, keeping our kids safe and protecting a woman’s freedom to make her own decisions about her own body, health care and future,” the former El Paso congressman said.

[Sky Jewels]

11. I hope they dedicate millions to ground-level turnout strategies

There is a vast untapped group of non-voters who could very well be persuaded to vote to get their reproductive rights back.

[TexasTowelie]

14. There are a lot of block walking parties going on throughout the state.

A couple weekends ago Beto stopped in to support people knocking on doors where I live in Bryan and College Station. There were about 60 people at that event even though the temperature was over 100 degrees. I believe that there were about 70 similar events throughout the state that day.

Beto also announced that he will be on a 49 day tour around the state. Nobody can knock Beto with the lie that he is a lousy campaigner.

[Sky Jewels]

15. That's fantastic.

I really admire his determination and endurance.

I hope the polls aren't picking up on all the unlikely voters who are turning into likely voters.

[SheltieLover]

13. Goooooo Beto!

[Cha]

17. GOTV Beto!!

🕯🕊🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈💜💥⭐️

[Magoo48]

18. Great News, now beat that ReTrumplican fool.